PEPFAR Country/Regional Operational Plan (COP/ROP) Guidance, 2017

PEPFAR’s focus on gaining sustainable control of the HIV epidemic made possible the announcement of bold PEPFAR HIV prevention and treatment targets for 2017 and 2018 at the 2016 Sustainable Development Goals Summit and the 2016 United Nations General Assembly. The focus on sustainable epidemic control began in 2014, when PEPFAR programs began pivoting to a data-driven approach that strategically targets geographic areas and populations where HIV/AIDS is most prevalent, and in which PEPFAR, in collaboration with host country governments, can achieve the greatest impact. With the focus of scaling HIV services in the highest disease burdened areas now being implemented, the streamlined Country Operational Plan (COP) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 focuses on impact and performance.

For the first time, we have evidence that PEPFAR program implementation can change the course of the epidemic evidenced by the impact assessments recently completed in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. Controlling the HIV pandemic is possible.